


Mind You, I Quite Like Joy

by Caedmon



Series: Doctor/Rose Prompts [10]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Little bit of angst, Mostly Fluff, TenToo - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, timepetalsprompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 13:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Time Lords, Daleks and Cybermen had told him that emotions were destructive, for lesser beings. </p><p>When Rose fell through the wall at Canary Wharf, leaving him bereft and broken, he'd started to believe them. </p><p>Today, though, he realizes just how wrong they are.</p><p>From the timepetalsprompt post: "joy"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mind You, I Quite Like Joy

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, first, this turned out waaaaaaay longer than I intended. Waaaaay longer. It just kind of....happened. 
> 
> This is another one of those times when I slammed my fingers down on the keyboard and words came out. I actually wrote and edited this on my phone because the idea hit and I couldn't get to the computer. 
> 
> I own nothing but the mistakes. (I think I might have gotten the cyberman quote a little wrong: if I did, I'm sorry. It's late and I'm sleepy.)  
> If you're reading this, you are appreciated and have my heartfelt thanks.  
> Kudos and comments make me a better writer. If you could possibly take the time, please do.  
> Come talk to me! Messages and prompts are the best thing ever. caedmonfaith.tumblr.com

The Time Lords of Gallifrey scorned emotions and the beings who thought with their hearts over their brains, believing themselves to be superior because they didn't allow such foolishness. 

The Daleks were emotionless and felt themselves supreme for it. When one developed emotions after getting some of Rose's DNA mixed up in its own, it pleaded for death instead of feeling.

The day he lost Rose, the Cyberman had told him that he was proof that emotions destroy. 

He had to admit that when Rose fell through, leaving him horrified and alone, clinging to the magna-clamp, the weight of his grief, despair, anger, fear and loneliness was so great that he truly believed he was permanently destroyed and that there was nothing good left for him in the universe. All of it had fallen through that wall at Canary Wharf. And all because he had allowed himself to _feel_ ; he had been a fool and fallen head over heels in love with one of the beings he was supposed to only feel pity and derision for. 

The fact that he hadn't, that he had held her in the highest esteem, viewed her as his equal (and even superior in some ways), that she had been his _everything_ , left him bereft in her absence. Allowing himself the taboo luxury of emotions had resulted in a Time Lord - the last of the Time Lords and the Oncoming Storm - lying in a broken, crying heap on the floor of the Tardis. He huddled in her room, surrounded by the things she had left behind without meaning to, pleading with every God he had ever denied to bring her back, that he would do anything just please... _please_...bring her back to him. 

One of them had taken pity on him and shown him mercy. 

~*~O~*~

The Doctor stood in the Tyler's expansive, elegant garden in front of a quietly murmuring crowd; the crowd dressed in pastels and Sunday suits, himself in a new tuxedo, a step up from the one he'd bought when he realized that galas and fundraisers were part of his new life. Necks craned periodically towards the rear of the Tyler mansion to try to catch a glimpse of the small bridal party, perhaps hoping to see if any activity would indicate if it were the magic time.

"The millinery made a fortune on this bunch, eh?" His best man leaned over and muttered conspiratorially, and when he looked over at Donna's husband Lee, his friend indicated the crowd. The Doctor looked and indeed, Lee was right. The hats the ladies his mother-in-law-to-be had invited were utterly ridiculous. He suspected they would be less so if these women weren't endlessly, silently competing with each other.

"You alright there, John?"

The Doctor nodded at Lee absently, playing with the skin on the finger of his left hand that would bear a ring for the rest of his life starting in a few short minutes. A ring Rose would give him, marking him as hers. And he would give her one, too, marking her as his. 

She would finally, _finally_ be his. He'd dreamed of it since Cardiff. 

"M'alright," he muttered. "M'always alright."

Lee gave him a look but didn't have time to comment: there was a groundswell of music and the rear doors opened. 

Little Tony strutted out proudly, carrying his white satin pillow importantly as if it held the most treasured and sacred relics in the world instead of two plastic rings. The Doctor smiled at the boy. He and Tony had grown quite close, and he halfway wondered if Tony -

"Doctor!"

Tony dropped his pillow when he saw the Doctor and ran down the temporary carpet of the aisle. _Yep. He did it, I called it,_ the Doctor thought as he chuckled and knelt down to scoop up the smiling child. Standing up with the boy in one arm, adjusting Tony's boutonnière and mindless that he was likely crushing his own, he asked, "how's my best mate?"

"Can I stay with you?"

The Doctor chuckled again. "You can stay until Rose comes. How's that?"

Tony nodded and the Doctor looked down the aisle to see Donna walking towards the front. He remembered the rush of happiness and gratitude he had felt when Rose told him that this universe had a Donna, and that she was basically the same person. He had already taken her name - Noble - by that point, but it didn't matter. The two of them became as close as siblings, just like when he and the other version of her had traveled together in the Tardis. 

"She looks pretty," Tony observed.

"She does look lovely, yes," the Doctor agreed and adjusted the child in his arms.

Rose had chosen blue and pink for their wedding colors, and the blue bridesmaid dress suited Donna well. He beamed at the sight of her, proud of his friend and so, so glad she was there. 

The music changed when Donna reached the front and the Doctor looked towards the back, along with everyone else in attendance. 

Pete and Jackie stepped out of their back door, Rose between them with an arm looped through each of her parents' elbows, and the crowd let out a small, collective happy sound at the sight of her. The Doctor was never sure of his own reaction to her, he couldn't remember later. He just remembered being overwhelmed by how beautiful she was - radiant, really, he'd never seen anything in 900 years to equal her - and he was glad he hadn't dropped Tony.

She clutched a nosegay of small pink and white roses with tiny little blue flowers here and there throughout, and oh, she was a vision. Her gown and hair were simple but elegant: there were very few sequins or beads, little lace or embroidery. No embellishment was needed. It would have been a moot point, really. No one would have noticed. 

Rose outshone everything. 

Her smile was bright as she steadily approached with her parents, but it didn't quite meet her eyes... her eyes that were looking for him. When she found him, beaming at her and holding her brother, he saw her smile widen and eyes crinkle just a little.

"Mummy says you're gonna be my big brother now."

The Doctor didn't take his eyes off of Rose. "She did?"

"Uh-huh. She said we're your family. Forever n'ever."

The Doctor felt the backs of his eyes prickle as Rose got closer, flanked by her parents, their eyes still locked on each other unable and unwilling to look anywhere else.

"Your Mummy is right, Tony," the Doctor said. "I'm your brother now, and in your family forever."

Tony threw his arms around the Doctor's neck and squeezed tightly; the Doctor had the presence of mind to put his free arm around the boy and squeeze back. 

"Good," Tony said. 

Rose and her parents reached the front, stopping near him and stood before the minister. For the first time since she stepped out of the back door with her mum and dad, the Doctor looked away from Rose. He kept his arm wrapped around Tony and his almost-brother-in-law still snuggled into his shoulder cozily.

The minister began to talk, and the Doctor's mind began to wander.

The Time Lords had scorned emotions and species who allowed themselves to make decisions based on emotions, viewing them as a liability. Emotional beings were beneath Time Lords. Inferior.

The Daleks thought themselves superior because they were rid of emotions, and insulted the Doctor when he ignored his compassion and let cold logic rule him. _What good are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?_

The Cybermen had told him that he was destroyed because he felt. _You are proof that emotions destroy you._

Later, he'd wondered if they were right. The ability to feel, the acceptance of emotions and allowing himself to love had led to utter, unspeakable agony. It had torn him down to nothing. Surely, they were right all along. Emotions were destruction. 

But now... Right now, right in this moment, as the Doctor stood before this minister and snuggled the preschooler that was absolutely thrilled to be his new brother, beside the man and woman who wanted to claim him as a son and the woman he loved more than his next breath who would be his wife in a matter of minutes, he knew that they were all wrong. _He_ had been wrong to believe them and doubt himself.

Emotions were what created and sustained you. The capability to feel made you whole. Empathy and passion were what made people into better versions of themselves, what led to personal growth - and he was thriving. 

"Who comes today to give this woman in marriage?"

"Her mother and I do."

As practiced, Jackie kissed Rose's cheek and murmured something to her daughter, took the bouquet to hand to Donna, then went off script a bit when she quickly scurried over to relieve the Doctor of Tony. Pete kissed Rose's cheek and placed her hands in the Doctor's. Jackie took a moment when she came over to the Doctor to kiss and cup his cheek - the same cheek she'd slapped a lifetime ago - and quickly whisper, "love you, you daft alien."

The Doctor grinned after her for only a second before he turned his attention to Rose. She was giving him that smile, that tongue-touched smile, and he was sure that he would combust. His single heart simply couldn't take this kind of joy.

"Hello," he said in a low voice while they waited for Jackie and Pete to take their seats and settle Tony. He found himself a little surprised he could form words. 

Impossibly, Rose smiled brighter. "Hello."

"I love you."

There was that smile again. She'd always get whatever she wanted out of him when she smiled at him like that. She always had and would forever. She knew it. He didn't mind one bit.

"Prove it," she challenged, her eyes twinkling. "Marry me. This time because you want to, not because we're trying to save our lives." 

"I always wanted to, but your wish is my command, Rose Tyler." He smiled cheekily at her. "But be careful what you wish for."

 _Joy._ Pure, bright, jubilant, staggering, breathtaking _joy._ It was all tangled up, wrapped in a snug, inextricably woven helix with the all-encompassing love he'd felt for the precious girl standing in front of him for five long years. The Doctor, Dr. John Noble as he was known now, didn't give a damn what anyone from his past had to say. All he wanted for the rest of his life was to look at this pink and yellow creature every day and feel this way. He knew that now, from this moment and by some miracle, he would. 

The minister began. "Dearly beloved..."


End file.
